Zinc
Zinc helps children thinkApril 10, 2005 Eleven-year-olds that took zinc supplements for five days each week had better mental performance after three months than their classmates, said researchers yesterday.
The children taking an extra 20mg of zinc responded more quickly and accurately on memory tasks and with more sustained attention than classmates who did not take the mineral.
Beneficial effects were seen regardless of the youngsters’ previous zinc status, said the researchers led by Dr James Penland from the US Agricultural Research Service’s Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center in North Dakota.
The findings, presented at the Experimental Biology meeting this week, suggest that there could be new demand for fortified foods and supplements for this age group.
Although zinc nutrition has been related to motor, cognitive and psychosocial function in very young children and adults, this is the first study of its effect in adolescents.
Zinc deficiency is not uncommon, even in nations such as the United States, and the risk is particularly high in adolescents, said Dr Penland, because they are undergoing rapid growth and often have poor eating habits. They may not consume enough zinc-rich foods like red meat, fish and grains.
Moreover the current recommended daily allowance is only 15mg for adults in the US, and up to 9.5 mg a day for men and 4-7 mg a day for women in the UK.
In the study, 111 girls and 98 boys consumed four ounces of fruit juice containing either 0, 10 or 20 mg of zinc gluconate each school day for 10 to 12 weeks. Students, their parents and teachers did not know who was receiving which, if any, zinc supplementation.
At the beginning and end of the study, students performed a battery of tasks designed to measure mental and motor skills, like attention, memory, problem-solving and hand-eye coordination.
Students, their parents, and teachers filled out questionnaires about the students’ mental, physical and social abilities and skills, school performance, and problems in any of these areas to provide a measure of psychosocial function.
Blood samples measured zinc status before and after the treatment.
Compared to the students who received no additional zinc, students who consumed an additional 20 mg zinc each day decreased reaction time on a visual memory task by 12 per cent versus 6 per cent; increased correct answers on a word recognition task by 9 per cent versus 3 per cent; and increased scores on a task requiring sustained attention and vigilance by 6 per cent versus 1 per cent.
Those who received only 10 mg a day, the US Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for this age group, did not significantly improve performance, however.
Supplementation at either the 10 mg or 20 mg did not appear to improve motor and social skills, although girls receiving the placebo experienced a 10 per cent increase in conduct problems during the study while the behaviour of girls receiving any level of zinc supplementation remained unchanged, reported the researchers.
Previous studies have shown that zinc is needed for growth and immune function and may be important for eye-hand coordination and reasoning in very young children. It also appears to influence memory, muscle strength and endurance in adults.
Pine Bark Extract Boosts Heart Health
Pine Bark Extract Boost Diabetics’ Heart Health May 13, 2008
Supplements of extracts from French maritime pine bark reduce blood pressure and the use of blood pressure medication among diabetics, concludes results from a new study.
Blood pressure control was achieved in 58 per cent of study participants, and a halving of the use of medication, among 48 participants randomly assigned to daily supplements of pine bark extract or placebo for 12 weeks. The results of the new study, published in the May issue of the journal Nutrition Research, is of particular importance for diabetics who are reportedly two to four times more likely to suffer from heart disease than non-diabetics “”These data confirm the hypothesis that pine bark extract improves diabetes control, reduces antihypertensive medicine use, and may favour a reduction in cardiovascular disease risk in individuals with type 2 diabetes,”" wrote lead author Sherma Zibadi from the University of Arizona. Indeed, previous studies have reported potential health benefits for the extract, including hypertension, asthma, chronic venous insufficiency, osteoarthritis, deep vein thrombosis, diabetes management, and diabetic leg ulcers. The new study recruited diabetic subjects with an average age of 60 and randomly assigned them to receive daily supplements of pine bark extract (125 mg) or placebo for 12 weeks in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with parallel-group design. All subjects were receiving pharmaceutical anti-hypertension treatment (angiotensin- converting enzyme [ACE] inhibitors). At the end of the study, Zibadi and co-workers report that 58.3 per cent of subjects in the pine bark extract group experienced blood pressure control, defined as attaining a stable systolic blood pressure, compared to 20.8 per cent in the placebo group. Moreover, use of ACE inhibitors was reduced by 50 per cent in the group receiving the pine bark extract Improvements in measures of diabetes control were also recorded, with a 23.7 mg/dL reduction in fasting blood glucose levels in the pine bark extract group, compared to only 5.7 mg/dL in the placebo group. Improvements in LDL-cholesterol, a marker of cardiovascular health, were recorded in the pine bark extract-supplemented group. After eight and 12 weeks of supplementation, decreases of 11.6 and 12.7 mg/dL were observed, respectively, compared with placebo. Mechanism of Action In attempting to understand the benefits of the pine bark extract on cardiovascular health of the diabetics, the researchers noted that the blood pressure lowering effects may be due to a suppression of serum endothelin-1, a protein that restricts blood vessels and reported to be found in higher levels than normal in type 2 diabetics and hypertensives. On the other hand, the authors could not rule out the potential of an inhibitory effect on ACE, which could improve blood flow and subsequently blood pressure. Finally, other studies have reported a potential benefit from pine bark extract on the production of the potent vasodilator, nitric oxide (NO). Limitations About 26.5 million people are affected by diabetes in the European Union, United States, and Canada equal to four per cent of the total population. This figure is projected to increase to 40 million by 2030. In the US, there are over 20 million people with diabetes, equal to seven per cent of the population. The total costs are thought to be as much as $132 billion, with $92 billion being direct costs from medication, according to 2002 American Diabetes Association figures.
Source: Nutrition Research (Elsevier) May 2008, Volume 28, Issue 5, Pages 315-320 “”Reduction of cardiovascular risk factors in subjects with type 2 diabetes by Pycnogenol supplementation”" Authors: S. Zibadi, P.J. Rohdewald, D. Park, R.R. Watson
Scientists Learning More Why Aging Cells Fail to Repair Themselves
Why Aging Cells Lose Ability to Repair Themselves Study finds defect that could lead to new treatments for disease
FRIDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthWire) — A defect in the body’s self-defense mechanism against age-related genetic mutations has been identified by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
The finding may help explain why the aging human body can’t defend itself against DNA damage in the mitochondria, the power plants that fuel the growth and activity of cells.
Finding ways to help aging cells repair their own damaged DNA could possibly lead to ways to prevent or treat cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other health problems caused by genetic defects.
As cells age, they experience continuous genetic mutations, some of which are caused by the harmful byproducts of the oxygen we inhale. But the body’s repair mechanism is constantly at work fixing this DNA damage. However, this repair activity becomes less efficient as cells age.
In this study, the researchers analyzed why this DNA repair activity becomes less effective in the mitochondria as cells age. They found a biochemical “”roadblock”" that prevents much of the repair enzyme activity from reaching the site of the DNA damage in the mitochondria of aging cells.
In old cells, about half of the repair enzyme activity can’t reach the mitochondria DNA to repair it.
The study was published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Probiotics for Health
Probiotics for Health By S.K. Dash, Ph.D.
Many health-conscious consumers today want to know when they should take probiotics. They ask whether they should wait until they are sick. If so, they ask, which illnesses respond best to probiotics? Or should they take a preventive approach and take probiotics before they get sick? What about use of probiotics with antibiotics? Today, there is no doubt that taking probiotics is as essential as a multivitamin to your health. So my reply to such questions is that a daily supplement should always be taken to maintain healthy immune and digestive function — but the supplement amount should be increased during times of stress and illness. But let’s start at the beginning.
Probiotics — What Are They?
The concept of ingesting live microorganisms for the purpose of improving one’s intestinal health and general well being can be traced back well before the beginning of the Twentieth Century to earlier eras when most foods were nonrefrigerated and instead preserved with fermentation. But the current practice of using beneficial organisms to improve and sustain health is now referred to as probiotic supplementation. Although numerous types of bacteria (and yeasts) are currently being marketed as probiotic cultures throughout the world, the two most commonly used ones are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.
Probiotics — A Health Essential?
Consumers rarely consider how essential healthy bacterial populations are to their health. But the fact is that a healthy ratio of beneficial to pathogenic bacteria residing within the gastrointestinal tract is essential to good health and influences not only digestive health but also immune function, detoxification, and women’s vaginal health. Unfortunately, great numbers of people today no longer have optimally balanced ratios of beneficial to pathogenic bacteria in their body, thus allowing the “”bad guys”" to gain the upper hand. This is very dangerous and one of the reasons that digestive illnesses, as well as other types of illnesses, are becoming so prevalent. Medically prescribed antibiotic use is certainly one of the most important causes of this change in our natural flora, with travel to foreign lands a close second. But beyond these detrimental impacts on our gastrointestinal health, we face many other daunting challenges to our bacterial balance. Unless one consumes organic dairy products, for example, one is almost certainly consuming traces of antibiotics and sulfa drugs, which have a disruptive effect on bowel ecology. Our highly processed food supply has also denied our bodies the opportunity to ingest beneficial bacteria as we once did through food fermentation (widely used before refrigeration). Our water also tends to be highly chlorinated which, although important from a public health perspective, has drawbacks for individual health when it comes to adversely impacting our body’s bacterial populations. When the body’s bacterial populations are upset, many kinds of illness can result. So for daily maintenance and in times of illness it just makes sense to use a quality probiotic formula.
Prevention and Treatment of Diarrhea and Constipation: Antibiotic-associated diarrhea can be attributed in part to imbalances in intestinal microflora. Bifidobacteria have been used to successfully treat intestinal disorders and in the prevention of rotaviral diarrhea in children and adults. In fact, taking a probiotic formula with antibiotics is now considered to be standard medicine in many countries. But antibiotics and probiotics must be taken a few hours apart. Constipation is a significant problem for many people, especially the elderly. Researchers have shown that enhancing Bifidobacteria in the large intestine of constipated elderly individuals provides a significant laxative effect.
Ulcer Therapy: If you’re taking antibiotics to treat your ulcer, you should be using probiotics along with your doctor’s prescribed antibiotics. That’s the message from researchers reporting in the February 2001 issue of Digestion. Frequently, nausea, bloating, diarrhea, taste disturbances and loss of appetite are side effects from use of antibiotics to eradicate Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium thought to be the causative agent in gastric ulcers. This latest study involving 120 ulcer patients shows that persons given both antibiotics and probiotics experienced markedly reduced incidence of bloating, diarrhea and taste disturbances compared to persons given only antibiotics, and most persons given the natural remedy experienced no side effects.
Enhanced Immune Function: Most of our immune cells are produced within the gastrointestinal tract and much of our protection against orally ingested pathogens (such as salmonella) is the result of a healthy gastrointestinal environment. There is perhaps no greater protection against such food-borne pathogens than the use of probiotics to sustain this healthy environment. Recent studies show that Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria can stimulate both general immunity and also specific antibodies to certain pathogens.
Lactose Intolerance: Dairy foods are a very important part of a healthy diet, but many of us suffer from some symptoms of lactose intolerance. Studies have shown that strains of Lactobaccilli and Bifidobacteria reduce symptoms of lactose malabsorption.
Establishment of Healthy Flora: in Babies and Infants Premature infants generally take longer to establish a characteristic intestinal flora, which can render them more susceptible to certain intestinal infections. Various strains of Bifidobacterium administered to premature infants results in populations of beneficial bacteria becoming established more quickly in their intestines compared to a control group. You will also likely find that children susceptible to middle ear infections enjoy better health when they are given probiotics (DDS®-Junior Probiotic for Children).
Editor’s Note: Dr. S. K. Dash is among the world’s leading experts today in the field of probiotics. Dr. Dash is founder of America’s leading probiotic company UAS Labs.
See the full unabridged version of this article at www.freedompressonline.com.
References Armuzzi, A., et al. “”Effect of Lactobacillus GG supplementation on antibiotic-associated gastrointestinal side effects during Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy: a pilot study.”" Digestion, 2001;63:1